Gold rally pushes juniors higher

The TSX Venture Exchange took back some ground for the trading period May 19-25 to close up 68 points at 1,602.27, breaking a 6-week decline. The junior market was fuelled by upward-trending gold prices, which reached a 2-week inter-day high of US$390 per oz.

Decliners still outnumbered gainers, with eight Venture-Exchange-listed juniors seeing new highs for the trading period, compared with 57 new lows, a slight improvement from the previous week.

A weakening U.S. dollar, caused by currency market jitters about the possibility of the U.S. implementing proposed interest rate hikes, helped buoy bullion prices. Silver also rallied, to close above US$6 per oz.

The most actively traded junior miners for the period included St. Jude Resources, EuroZinc Mining and ECU Silver Mining.

St. Jude Resources saw large market crosses conducted by broker Salman Partners. The company, which is exploring gold projects in Ghana and Burkina Faso, closed at $1.60, up a dime.

EuroZinc Mining continued to garner investor interest. The company’s Neves Corvo copper mine acquisition in Portugal is expected to close in early June. EuroZinc closed at 68, up 18, helped by positive comments from portfolio managers at Thornmark Asset Management.

ECU Silver Mining traded heavily on the week to close at 40, up 8 for a 25% gain. The Quebec-based junior recently completed a $1.1-million financing, part of which it will use to acquire an 87% interest in a mill close to its Velardena mine in Mexico’s Durango state. Additional gold-silver assays were received from drill samples and included base metal values.

Seabridge Gold led the value gainers, posting a dramatic gain of 52% to close at $4.62, up $1.58. The company has advanced gold projects in the Northwest Territories, northwestern British Columbia, Oregon and Nevada. Romarco Minerals recently commenced a drill program on Seabridge’s Hogg Ranch project in Washoe Cty., Nev.

A continued run in the share price of Silver Standard Resources had it adding $1.36 to close at $16.10, up over 9%. Improvement in silver prices helped the company, which recently posted a 40% increase in its measured and indicated silver resource to 403.6 million oz.

Northern Dynasty Minerals closed at $5.65, up $1.20 (from $4.45).

Cardero Resources rose 46% to close at $2.94, up 93 on the period. The company is joint-ventured with Anglo American on the San Fernando iron-oxide/copper/gold project in Baja California, Mexico.

The percentage gainers included Tyler Resources, which closed at 34, up 89%, for a gain of 16. The company is drilling its Bahuerachi copper-gold porphyry project in Mexico. Preliminary assays have shown copper grades ranging from 0.2% to 0.6%.

West African gold explorer PMI Ventures saw its share value rise 55% to 31. The company is drilling geophysical targets at the Ashanti II gold project in Ghana.